Merchandise packaging and display device

ABSTRACT

A hanger device for supporting mats, particularly automobile mats, having opposed panels joined by a rigid spine at one end, and each panel having a shorter upper panel portion which is reinforced by a plural layer of material folded upon itself to lie along the upper edge of each of the upper portions, handholes being provided in the upper portions, the hand-holes being aligned with each other when the side panels are in their adjacent position. Aligned reentrant notches are provided at the ends of the shorter portions, the notches extending longitudinally of the shorter portions and being enlarged at their inner ends. The width of the notches being such as to permit the notches to be slid over a horizontal pole until the enlarged end is reached to hang the hanger and its mat on the pole. An upper portion of one of the panels adjacent the end thereof is provided with a portion which is folded inwardly between the side panels when the latter are in their adjacent configuration.

United States Patent 1 Ambrozetes et al.

[ Aug. 12, 1975 MERCHANDISE PACKAGING AND DISPLAY DEVICE [75] Inventors: James P. Ambrozetes, Phoenixville;

I-Iomer R. Diehl, Roslyn, both of Pa.

[73] Assignee: American Biltrite Inc., Cambridge,

Mass.

[22] Filed: Oct. 18, 1974 [21] Appl. No.: 515,902

[52] US. Cl. 206/491; 206/278; 223/87 [51] Int. C1. B65D 33/14 [58] Field of Search 223/85, 87, DIG. 1;

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1.760.352 5/1930 Feigelman 223/87 2.386.603 10/1945 Glaser 223/87 3,061,154 10/1962 Connall 223/87 3.370.765 2/1968 Jossem 223/87 3.841.478 10/1974 Wells et a1. 223/87 3.862.687 l/l975 Pirman 206/806 X Primary Examiner-George H. Krizmanich Attorney. Agent, or Firm-Kenway & Jenney [57] ABSTRACT A hanger device for supporting mats, particularly automobile mats, having opposed panels joined by a rigid spine at one end, and each panel having a shorter upper panel portion which is reinforced by a plural layer of material folded upon itself to lie along the upper edge of each of the upper portions, hand-holes being provided in the upper portions, the hand-holes being aligned with each other when the side panels are in their adjacent position. Aligned reentrant notches are provided at the ends of the shorter portions, the notches extending longitudinally of the shorter portions and being enlarged at their inner ends. The width of the notches being such as to permit the notches to be slid over a horizontal pole until the enlarged end is reached to hang the hanger and its mat on the pole. An upper portion of one of the panels adjacent the end thereof is provided with a portion which is folded inwardly between the side panels when the latter are in their adjacent configuration.

9 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures PATENTEU AUG 1 21975 mw A m wI

MERCHANDISE PACKAGING AND DISPLAY DEVICE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The use of hanger devices made from stiff material such as cardboard is well known in the art, particularly for the display and hanging of articles of clothing such as ties, blouses, shirts, shoelaces, women and mens garments, mens pants, hosiery, scarves, textiles, etc. However, in nearly every case, the particular hanger has been used to display an article or articles which are relatively lightweight. Therefore, the hangers needed little by way of reinforcement, and in general are not subject to abuse by persons examining the material displayed thereby. As a result, the hangers of the prior art are not suitable for displaying relatively heavy objects such as the accessory floor mats used and sold for automobiles and trucks.

In addition, many of the hangers of the prior art are expensive insofar as the amount of cardboard needed to make them, and are not in many instances readily foldable for easy attachment thereto of the article to be displayed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is the general purpose of this invention to provide a hanger, particularly for the display of relatively heavy articles such as automobile car mats but adaptable for hanging other objects, which is relatively simple to make, strong and durable, and made of one piece of material.

Another object of the invention is to provide a hanger of the above type, in which strength is provided by utilizing folded sections integral with the panels or walls of the hanger in order to provide plural thicknesses of hanger material where strength is needed.

A still further object of the invention is to provide means whereby the hanger has a better appearance than hangers presently in use for the hanging automobile car mats, in that where folds occur, the folds themselves are smooth surfaces instead of raw edges of the material used to make the hanger.

Yet another object of the invention is the provision of hangers of the above type, in which ample opportunity is present on the hanger, without departing from its utility, for the printing thereon of indicia and other information pertinent to the article being displayed, as well as the name of the manufacturer of the displayed material.

Other objects and provisions will be in part obvious and in part pointed out hereinafter.

The invention accordingly comprises the elements and combinations of elements, features of construction and arrangements of parts which will be exemplified in the structures hereinafter described, and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawing, in which one of various possible embodiments of the invention is illustrated:

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an unfolded blank of stiff material from which the hanger of this invention is to be folded;

FIG. 2 is a plan view similar to FIG. 1, but with certain parts folded, and the panels still in their spreadapart condition prior to folding together;

FIG. 3 is a view of the hanger of FIGS. 1 and 2 with the main panels folded to lie adjacent each other, and a portion of a display mat hanging from the panel;

FIG. 4 is a sectional end view of the embodiment of this invention, taken in the direction of sight lines 44 on FIG. 3; and

FIG. 5 is a sectional end view of the embodiment of this invention, taken in the direction of sight lines 5-5 on FIG. 3.

Throughout the drawings, similar reference characters indicate corresponding parts. Dimensions of certain of the parts as shown in the drawings may have been modified and/or exaggerated for the purposes of clarity of illustration and understanding of the invention.

Referring to FIG. 1 of the drawing, a blank 2 is shown from which the hanger of this invention is to be folded. Blank 2 is made of a stiff material such as corrugated cardboard, and comprises the two main panels 4 and 6 which are joined integrally by a section 8 defined by the fold lines 10 and 12. (Hereinafter, the portion between the fold lines 10 and 12 is called a spine or reinforcing hinge member.) At the upper edge of each of the panels, there is provided an extension indicated generally by numeral 14, the extension comprising integrally attached shorter horizontal sub-panels 16, 18, 20 and 16', 18' and 20' which are joined to the respective main panels along the fold lines indicated by the numerals 22, 24 and 26, 28. (The material between each of the fold lines 22, 24 and 26, 28 comprises a spine acting as a reinforcing member.) The inner ends of subpanel portions 18 and 18 terminate freely as provided by the cut-out notch 32. The inner ends of sub-panels 20 and 20 are joined by the connecting link 30. The inner ends of sub-panels 16 and 16' are integrally joined. Thus, the sub-panels are shorter than the main panels. An elongated portion of an inner surface of subpanels 16, 16' is coated with self-adhering adhesive 33 preferably of the pressure type, and the back edge of sub-panels 20, 20' are also provided with the component part of the pressure-sensitive adhesive system. In the folding of the device to form a completed hanger, sub-panels 20, 20 are folded respectively about the fold line 22, 24 against the sub-panel l8, l8; and then the combination is folded about the fold lines 26 and 28, thus bringing the gummed rear surface of sub-panel 20, 20' against respectively the gummed surface 33 of the sub-panels 16, 16. Thus, a tri-layered reinforced upper panel portion or member is provided.

Hand-holes 34 and 36 are provided in the sub-panels 16, 16. Cut-outs 38, 40 for matching hand-holes 34, 36 are provided in sub-panels 18, 18', 20 and 20. It will be noted that when the sub-panels 18, 18', 20 and 20' are folded down against sub-panels 16, 16', the handholes and cut-outs align to provide hand-holes through the several layers thus provided.

A foldable flap 42 is provided near one end of one of the panels 4 of the blank, and is integrally joined to the particular panel by means of a central spine section 44 defined by the fold lines 46 and 48. Prior to folding the two panels 4 and 6 together to make the hanger itself, with the panel 6 being folded over onto the panel 4, the flap 42 is to be folded about the fold lines 46 and 48 in order to lie between the two main panels.

Elongated reentrant notches 50 and 52 are provided as shown at each end of the portion 16, 16, these notches terminating in the circular hole portions 54 and 56. When the panels 18, 18' and 20, 20' are folded down onto the panel 16, 16 respectively, it will be noted that the spine defined by the fold lines 22, 24 will overlap portions of the holes 54, 56. Consequently, in order to clear these holes, arcuate holes 58 and 60 are provided respectively in the panels as shown, being positioned therein so that when the sub-panels are folded together, the clearance holes 58, 60 will overly portions of the holes 54, 56 respectively.

FIG. 2 shows a first step in the preparation of the hanger, in which the sub-panels 20, 20 and l8, 18' are folded down onto the sub-panel 16, 16' and held there in place by means of the adhesive 33. It wll be noted that the hand-holes 34 and 36 are thus clear throughout the tri-layers of the reinforcing sub-panels.

The next stage of preparation of the hanger is to fold the flap 42 down by means of the fold lines 46, 48 to occupy the dotted line position shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. This having been done, the panel 4 is then folded over onto the panel 6 as shown in FIG. 3. It will thus also be observed that the composite hand-holes overly and align with each other; and also that the reentrant notches 50 and 52 overly each other so as to provide a reinforced, continuous, reentrant notch leading to the partially circular enlarged sections 54, 56. The flap 42 is shown folded inwardly of the two panels 4 and 6.

With the parts in this condition, an automobile floor mat 66 has its proper edge inserted into the space between the panels 4 and 6, is then stapled there in place by means of the conventional staples 68 as shown.

With the floor mat stapled in place, the hanger is then placed by means of the reentrant notches 50, 52 upon a pole 70 of a display rack. Because of the shape of the partial holes 54, 56, the hanger will be held securely on the pole or the rack, but may be removed easily by a prospective purchaser of the mat.

It will be observed that a minimum of material is utilized in forming the above hanger device, and yet at the critical points the hanger has been reinforced particularly by the sub-panels 16, 16, 18, 18, 20 and 20'. This is also true for the reentrant notches 50, 52, the holes 54, 56, and the handholes 34, 36.

It will also be observed that the length of the subpanels 16, l6, 18, 18', 20 and 20' is such, that when the reentrant notch is formed of convenient length, the circular termini 54 and 56 will be positioned approximately midway of the ends of the hanger when folded to receive a mat. Thus, the mat will hang on a pivot point lying in a vertical line about the combined center of gravity of mat and hanger.

Further, by providing the cut-out 32, yet providing the link 30, ease of folding of the sub-panels one on the other is provided, as well as folding the panels 4 and 6 about the folded lines l0, 12. In connection with the spine formed by fold lines 10, 12, it will be noted that it runs from top to bottom of one end of the hanger as folded. Also to be noted is that the folded portions of the material, (ie., the spines provided by fold lines 10, 12; 22, 24; 26, 28; and 46, 48) present smooth unbroken surfaces to the outside, thus providing a more pleasing appearance than would raw edges.

In view of the above it will be seen that the several objects of the invention are achieved and other advantageous results attained.

It is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and arrangement of parts illustrated in the accompanying drawings, since the invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation.

As many changes could be made in the above constructions without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings, shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense, and it is also intended that the appended claims shall cover all such equivalent variations as come within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

Having described the invention, what is claimed is:

1. A display hanger for automobile floor mats, comprising two complimentary elongated front and back main panels of relatively stiff material joined at one end of each by a common vertical rigid fold portion integral with each main panel; each of the main panels having extending along its upper edges plural-layered, elongated upper sub-panels of said material integral with and shorter than said main panels, each of said subpanels being folded along a horizontal fold line defining a rigid, horizontal fold portion integral with the respective panel, a hand-hole provided in each of said subpanels, the hand-hole in one sub-panel being aligned with the hand-hole in the other sub-panel when the main panels are folded against each other to provide a single hand-hole extending through all of said plural layers; a flap member connected to a portion of the upper edge of one of the main panels integral therewith and folded inwardly along a rigid horizontal fold portion, said flap member when folded inwardly acting to reinforce said upper edge and also to space the main panels apart; horizontal elongated notches provided in adjacent vertical edge portions of said sub-panels at one end thereof, the inner ends of said notches terminating in enlarged circular holes thereby to provide means for hanging the hanger on horizontal racks; and the main panels when folded toward each other lying adjacent to but spaced apart from each other to provide a space therebetween for the introduction of the material to be displayed on the hanger, said flap portion being within said space.

2. The display hanger of claim 1, in which each of said rigid fold portions is a bend of said material and has a relatively smooth outer surface.

3. The display hanger of claim 1, in which said handholes are at an angle to the horizontal line of the hanger.

4. The display hanger of claim 1, in which the lower edge of each of said notches consists of a portion of the upper edge of each of the main panels, the upper edge of each of said notches is of the material of the subpanels, and said upper and lower edges are parallel and horizontal.

5. The display hanger of claim 1, in which the diameter of the circular holes is greater than the distance between the upper and lower edges of said notches.

6. The display hanger of claim 1, in which the spines formed by folding the respective panels and sub-panels about their fold lines presents smooth unbroken surfaces to the exterior of the folded structure.

7. The display hanger of claim 1, in which the said sub-panels are shorter in length than the main panels, and the notches at the free ends of said sub-panels are of such length that the centers of said holes lie approxiline; the upper portion being folded against the middle portion, and the combined upper and middle portions being folded against the bottom portion.

9. The display hanger of claim 8 in which one end of each of said upper, middle and bottom portions is free. the other ends of the lower portions are integrally attached to each other, the other ends of the middle portions are free, and the other ends of the upper portions are connected together for a portion of their width.

UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE C'HHCATE 0F CORRECTION PATENT NO. 3 899 07 DATED ugust 12, 1975 |NVENTOR(5) 3 James P, Ambrozetes and Homer R. Diehl It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

In the heading of the patent, change the Assignee statement to read as follows:

Assignees American Biltrite Inc Cambridge, Mass.

and Container Corporation of America, Chicago, Illinois, jointly.

Signed and Scaled this Thirteenth Day of July 1976 [SEALI A nest:

RUTH C. MASON C. MARSHALL DANN Anesling Officer Commissioner (r/Parents and Trademarks 

1. A display hanger for automobile floor mats, comprising two complimentary elongated front and back main panels of relatively stiff material joined at one end of each by a common vertical rigid fold portion integral with each main panel; each of the main panels having extending along its upper edges plurallayered, elongated upper sub-panels of said material integral with and shorter than said main panels, each of said sub-panels being folded along a horizontal fold line defining a rigid, horizontal fold portion integral with the respective panel, a hand-hole provided in each of said sub-panels, the hand-hole in one sub-panel being aligned with the hand-hole in the other subpanel when the main panels are folded against each other to provide a single hand-hole extending through all of said plural layers; a flap member connected to a portion of the upper edge of one of the main panels integral therewith and folded inwardly along a rigid horizontal fold portion, said flap member when folded inwardly acting to reinforce said upper edge and also to space the main panels apart; horizontal elongated notches provided in adjacent vertical edge portions of said sub-panels at one end thereof, the inner ends of said notches terminating in enlarged circular holes thereby to provide means for hanging the hanger on horizontal racks; and the main panels when folded toward each other lying adjacent to but spaced apart from each other to provide a space therebetween for the introduction of the material to be displayed on the hanger, said flap portion being within said space.
 2. The display hanger of claim 1, in which each of said rigid fold portions is a bend of said material and has a relatively smooth outer surface.
 3. The display hanger of claim 1, in which said hand-holes are at an angle to the horizontal line of the hanger.
 4. The display hanger of claim 1, in which the lower edge of each of said notches consists of a portion of the upper edge of each of the main panels, the upper edge of each of said notches is of the material of the sub-panels, and said upper and lower edges are parallel and horizontal.
 5. The display hanger of claim 1, in which the diameter of the circular holes is greater than the distance between the upper and lower edges of said notches.
 6. The display hanger of claim 1, in which the spines formed by folding the respective panels and sub-panels about their fold lines presents smooth unbroken surfaces to the exterior of the folded structure.
 7. The display hanger of claim 1, in which the said sub-panels are shorter in length than the main panels, and the notches at the free ends of said sub-panels are of such length that the centers of said holes lie approximately on a point vertical to the center of gravity of the combined hanger and a mat held therein.
 8. The display hanger of claim 1 in which each of the sub-panels comprises three layers of said material, the layers being an upper portion, a middle portion and a bottom portion; the bottom portion being joined integrally to a respective main panel, the middle portion being joined integrally to the bottom portion along a horizontal fold line, and the upper portion being joined integrally to the middle portion along a horizontal fold line; the upper portion being folded against the middle portion, and the combined upper and middle portions being folded against the bottom portion.
 9. The display Hanger of claim 8 in which one end of each of said upper, middle and bottom portions is free, the other ends of the lower portions are integrally attached to each other, the other ends of the middle portions are free, and the other ends of the upper portions are connected together for a portion of their width. 